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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Meet
Jase
Tyrone
Kinga
Harri
and Sherlock the dog
They’re the clue-crackers and dynamic detectives of the CASTLE ROCK MYSTERY CREW.
Jase is spending the holidays at a caravan park with his auntie and grandma. He’s sure it’ll be a boring few weeks, but then he teams up with a new crew of friends to uncover who is behind some mysterious thefts. When the finger of blame starts to point at the kids, they must find the true culprit to clear their names and see justice done!
It’s the last day of the school year.
9-year-old Jase lives with his mum, his grandma Rose, 4 older brothers and Sherlock the beagle dog in a flat in Beeston, Nottingham. His mum used to work in a supermarket but a year ago, his grandma’s Alzheimer’s had gotten worse and when she moved in with them, Jase’s mum had to give up work to care for her. Although Jase now has to share a room with his brother Ross and his grandma has bad days when she doesn’t remember things, Jase is happy that his grandma lives with them because she used to be a police detective (having risen to the role of Chief Constable for Nottingham) and tells him awesome stories about all the criminals she’s found and had locked up. As a result, Jase loves investigating and dreams about becoming a police detective himself when he leaves school.
When Jase gets home from school he finds his auntie Nicki waiting for him with news: she’s going to take him, Sherlock and grandma with her on holiday to Castle Rock Caravan Park in Skegness for 10 whole days. Jase would much rather be on a beach somewhere overseas, but he knows that the family’s finances won’t stretch to it and as his grandma points out, taking care of her is difficult and his mum also needs a break. Besides, Jase will turn 10 while they’re away and it’s always pretty cool to have a birthday while on holiday.
At the Castle Rock Caravan Park, Jase soon meets and makes friends with Tyrone (who is from Nottingham, mad about trainers, great at sport and on holiday with his parents, four sisters, two aunties and two uncles), Kinga (who is adopted, is keen on the environment, social media and world peace and on holiday with her mum and dad) and Harri (who has ADHD, loves science and technology and is on holiday with her parents - who are divorced - and her mum’s boyfriend). Tyrone, Kinga and Harri have all been going to the caravan park for several years and together with Harri’s older brother Oliver, were the Castle Rock Mystery Crew. But now Olly’s gotten older and thinks he’s too cool to hang out with the younger kids anymore, so they welcome Jase to the club.
It isn’t long until the Crew have their first mystery to solve: someone has been stealing from the holidaymakers in the caravan park! As people grow more suspicious of each other, tensions start to mount and when a pair of stolen earrings are found outside Harri’s window, Mr Collins (the park manager) suspects the Crew of being responsible and threatens to throw them and their families out of the park and ban them for life!
There’s only one thing for it - the Crew will have to find out the real culprit and clear their name!
Vicky McClure’s adventure mystery for readers aged 9+ (written by Kim Curran and illustrated by Alan Brown and the first in a series) is well-meaning and sensitive in incorporating people with dementia within the story. The pacing works, the mystery well drawn and I liked the friendship that develops between the Crew but the marketing is a great example of why I don’t like celebrity children’s novels and as such I am not sure I would read on.
I’m going to start this review by making very clear that I like Vicky McClure. I am a huge fan of her work - she is a phenomenal actress - and the work she does promoting dementia charities (including ‘Our Dementia Choir’) is heart-felt and genuine. However, I have some hang ups when it comes to celebrity children’s books and this one hit almost all of them.
For starters, McClure’s name is front and centre on the cover of this book - it’s marketed and promoted as having been written by her. It’s only when you look at the back cover that you see the weasel words “in collaboration with Kim Curran” and in the Author’s Note at the back that you learn McClure gave an outline for the book, which means it was Curran who did all the writing. I absolutely loathe it when publishers do this. There is no shame in having a ghost written book but it seriously irritates me when it’s marketed as being the celebrity’s own work. I recently reviewed THE STARLIGHT STABLES GANG by Esme Higgs and Jo Cotterill, which is an example of how to do celebrity books correctly by giving the celeb and the writer co-billing. This book should give Curran co-billing and I find it very disappointing that McClure has not done this (although I do give her credit for singling Curran out for thanks in the Author’s Note at the back).
It is a real shame that Curran does not get the billing she deserves, because she’s actually done McClure proud with the writing here. The book itself is well done. There’s a lot of backstory here (which goes with the territory when it’s the first in a series) but it’s incorporated smoothly and I think the depiction of the effect of Rose’s Alzheimer’s on both her and her family is sensitively done in an age-appropriate way for the readership. The way Curran/McClure shows the developing friendship between the Crew works well and a lot of time goes into showing them as rounded characters with family lives (I particularly liked Harri’s divorced parents and would like to see more of Kinga’s dad), although if I had one gripe it’s that I find the fact that Tyrone, as the only black character in the book, is a keen basketball player a bit stereotypical.
The mystery itself is effective and I think Curran/McClure seed a number of good red herrings and twists. I particularly liked the discovery about one of the park residents - Beryl - who is a really interesting character and would make a good recurring character in the series given a revelation that comes about her later on.
If the publishers do the honest thing and market the next book in this series with the co-author being given cover credit, then I would very happily check it out. Otherwise, I’m afraid that although there is some good stuff here, I would rather give my time to a children’s author who wrote the book themselves and does not benefit from the marketing and publicity budget set aside for this.
The Verdict:
Vicky McClure’s adventure mystery for readers aged 9+ (written by Kim Curran and illustrated by Alan Brown and the first in a series) is well-meaning and sensitive in incorporating people with dementia within the story. The pacing works, the mystery well drawn and I liked the friendship that develops between the Crew but the marketing is a great example of why I don’t like celebrity children’s novels and as such I am not sure I would read on.
CASTLE ROCK MYSTERY CREW was released in the United Kingdom on 11th May 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Jase
Tyrone
Kinga
Harri
and Sherlock the dog
They’re the clue-crackers and dynamic detectives of the CASTLE ROCK MYSTERY CREW.
Jase is spending the holidays at a caravan park with his auntie and grandma. He’s sure it’ll be a boring few weeks, but then he teams up with a new crew of friends to uncover who is behind some mysterious thefts. When the finger of blame starts to point at the kids, they must find the true culprit to clear their names and see justice done!
It’s the last day of the school year.
9-year-old Jase lives with his mum, his grandma Rose, 4 older brothers and Sherlock the beagle dog in a flat in Beeston, Nottingham. His mum used to work in a supermarket but a year ago, his grandma’s Alzheimer’s had gotten worse and when she moved in with them, Jase’s mum had to give up work to care for her. Although Jase now has to share a room with his brother Ross and his grandma has bad days when she doesn’t remember things, Jase is happy that his grandma lives with them because she used to be a police detective (having risen to the role of Chief Constable for Nottingham) and tells him awesome stories about all the criminals she’s found and had locked up. As a result, Jase loves investigating and dreams about becoming a police detective himself when he leaves school.
When Jase gets home from school he finds his auntie Nicki waiting for him with news: she’s going to take him, Sherlock and grandma with her on holiday to Castle Rock Caravan Park in Skegness for 10 whole days. Jase would much rather be on a beach somewhere overseas, but he knows that the family’s finances won’t stretch to it and as his grandma points out, taking care of her is difficult and his mum also needs a break. Besides, Jase will turn 10 while they’re away and it’s always pretty cool to have a birthday while on holiday.
At the Castle Rock Caravan Park, Jase soon meets and makes friends with Tyrone (who is from Nottingham, mad about trainers, great at sport and on holiday with his parents, four sisters, two aunties and two uncles), Kinga (who is adopted, is keen on the environment, social media and world peace and on holiday with her mum and dad) and Harri (who has ADHD, loves science and technology and is on holiday with her parents - who are divorced - and her mum’s boyfriend). Tyrone, Kinga and Harri have all been going to the caravan park for several years and together with Harri’s older brother Oliver, were the Castle Rock Mystery Crew. But now Olly’s gotten older and thinks he’s too cool to hang out with the younger kids anymore, so they welcome Jase to the club.
It isn’t long until the Crew have their first mystery to solve: someone has been stealing from the holidaymakers in the caravan park! As people grow more suspicious of each other, tensions start to mount and when a pair of stolen earrings are found outside Harri’s window, Mr Collins (the park manager) suspects the Crew of being responsible and threatens to throw them and their families out of the park and ban them for life!
There’s only one thing for it - the Crew will have to find out the real culprit and clear their name!
Vicky McClure’s adventure mystery for readers aged 9+ (written by Kim Curran and illustrated by Alan Brown and the first in a series) is well-meaning and sensitive in incorporating people with dementia within the story. The pacing works, the mystery well drawn and I liked the friendship that develops between the Crew but the marketing is a great example of why I don’t like celebrity children’s novels and as such I am not sure I would read on.
I’m going to start this review by making very clear that I like Vicky McClure. I am a huge fan of her work - she is a phenomenal actress - and the work she does promoting dementia charities (including ‘Our Dementia Choir’) is heart-felt and genuine. However, I have some hang ups when it comes to celebrity children’s books and this one hit almost all of them.
For starters, McClure’s name is front and centre on the cover of this book - it’s marketed and promoted as having been written by her. It’s only when you look at the back cover that you see the weasel words “in collaboration with Kim Curran” and in the Author’s Note at the back that you learn McClure gave an outline for the book, which means it was Curran who did all the writing. I absolutely loathe it when publishers do this. There is no shame in having a ghost written book but it seriously irritates me when it’s marketed as being the celebrity’s own work. I recently reviewed THE STARLIGHT STABLES GANG by Esme Higgs and Jo Cotterill, which is an example of how to do celebrity books correctly by giving the celeb and the writer co-billing. This book should give Curran co-billing and I find it very disappointing that McClure has not done this (although I do give her credit for singling Curran out for thanks in the Author’s Note at the back).
It is a real shame that Curran does not get the billing she deserves, because she’s actually done McClure proud with the writing here. The book itself is well done. There’s a lot of backstory here (which goes with the territory when it’s the first in a series) but it’s incorporated smoothly and I think the depiction of the effect of Rose’s Alzheimer’s on both her and her family is sensitively done in an age-appropriate way for the readership. The way Curran/McClure shows the developing friendship between the Crew works well and a lot of time goes into showing them as rounded characters with family lives (I particularly liked Harri’s divorced parents and would like to see more of Kinga’s dad), although if I had one gripe it’s that I find the fact that Tyrone, as the only black character in the book, is a keen basketball player a bit stereotypical.
The mystery itself is effective and I think Curran/McClure seed a number of good red herrings and twists. I particularly liked the discovery about one of the park residents - Beryl - who is a really interesting character and would make a good recurring character in the series given a revelation that comes about her later on.
If the publishers do the honest thing and market the next book in this series with the co-author being given cover credit, then I would very happily check it out. Otherwise, I’m afraid that although there is some good stuff here, I would rather give my time to a children’s author who wrote the book themselves and does not benefit from the marketing and publicity budget set aside for this.
The Verdict:
Vicky McClure’s adventure mystery for readers aged 9+ (written by Kim Curran and illustrated by Alan Brown and the first in a series) is well-meaning and sensitive in incorporating people with dementia within the story. The pacing works, the mystery well drawn and I liked the friendship that develops between the Crew but the marketing is a great example of why I don’t like celebrity children’s novels and as such I am not sure I would read on.
CASTLE ROCK MYSTERY CREW was released in the United Kingdom on 11th May 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
